After his initial bold assertion that South Africa will not be bullied, President Cyril Ramaphosa has now toned down as the US continues to take a litany of unprecedented actions against South Africa with the most recent being the expulsion of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool who the Donald Trump administration accuses of being a radical.
With Rasool expected back home, Ramaphosa has urged those planning homecoming ceremonies for him to exercise restraint as to avoid provoking the Trump administration further.
“We would like to urge all political formations that are planning various homecoming rallies for Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool to assist us and refrain from engaging in action that may seem inflammatory and that may worsen the already volatile diplomatic relationship with the United States,” said Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya during a media briefing at Union Buildings on Thursday.
The ANC is among those who had announced they would give Rasool a hero’s welcome when he lends at the Cape Town International Airport on Sunday and Magwenya said Ramaphosa was expected to tell the party to tone down.
“The president will not be telling his party not to honour Rasool but to be sensitive to the prevailing diplomatic situation and exercise restraint so that as he works to fix the relationship with the USA, that work is not compromised by anything because there’s a lot at stake,” said Magwenya.
He said the President has also directed the City of Joburg the renaming of Sandton Drive to Laela Khaled ( Palestinian liberation fighter).
He said the directive by the President did not amount to support for right wing groupings that are openly opposing the name change but part of the restraint he’s preaching in dealing with the unpredictable Trump.
“The government is engaging with the city of Johannesburg regarding the renaming of Sunton Drive Street.This is part of the needed consultation process, which is also prescribed within our statutory procedures. It further encourages a transparent process that invites the public to have a view that is expressed openly. It is also part of the intergovernmental cooperative process. As it stands, government has a historical mandate to rename the streets in South Africa to reflect and set apart the new dispensation from the old one.
“The renaming of streets remains one of our democratic society’s redress of the past injustices of colonialism and apartheid.(However, we recognise the diplomatic sensitivities around the renaming of Sandton Drive, particularly with the United States of America. It is for this reason that national government, through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, is in talks with the city of Johannesburg. The purpose of these talks is to agree a process that will allow the national executive to manage the diplomatic tensions with the United States without further inflaming the situation.Troubled waters is the right phrase to use. What is your assessment of South Africa in dealing with this geopolitical crisis, as some call it,” said Magwenya.